Maximum Ride : The Other Girl
by ThatClerk
Summary: Max and the Flock have been trying to piece together a connection between ITEX and a bio-chemical company called Arcanim Co. But when they start to get too close to the truth, a girl comes out of the woodwork, and what's most surprising? she's just like them. Can they trust her? Or will she be the one to finally bring Max and her flock down?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Chapter 1**

You know where there are these butterflies battering around in your stomach, before something big, something important? You can't sit down, you can't relax, and you're constantly on edge. Well, I had that feeling running through me like electricity, ready to electrocute anything or anyone who gets to close. We were about to break into a place called _Arcanim. _It's a company that has kept repeating on _Itex_ searches. With more research, we found out it was an Engineering Facility that worked on machines for Biomedicine. Fang and I thought we should take a break from Real-estate and check it out. I was now sitting on a couch at a grisly motel, close to the giant 'bon fire' we had back in Austin. Iggy's been distant since we left Addison behind and Fang has been staring at me steadily for the last hour. I hated it when he does that.

I check my watch and sighed.

"Let's go, I can't take this anymore" I whined. I stood up and sat back down.

"We can't go now, wait till dark" said Fang, relaxed. I glanced at him, his dark eyes watching me patiently like a parent's. I looked outside the grimy window, watching the sun sink slowly.

"Look! The sun's already sinking, by the time we're there-" I started.

"Stop, Max" said Fang, with a steely voice. I glared at him for a moment and then looked away. He was acting more like a parent every day. I missed mom more and more every day, I also missed my step sister but I can't be weak now. I had a family to take care of here, my flock.

When night had finally set, I was ready to shave my head and call it a day. Fang found my nerves humorous and had this smirk on his lips. We had gone on Google Maps (high fives to the people who thought of that) and memorized the route. My built-in GPS was telling me that we were a few metres of route and I titled my wings to get back on it. The butterflies in my stomach eased as I coursed through the sky, the chaos in my head becoming more organized. When I saw the top of a large brick building I knew we had arrived. It was either my sharp instincts or the sign on the front lawn saying _Arcanim_ but something about this building screamed _Place of evil doings._ The lights weren't on and it seemed quiet. We had no plan, just steely determination and that was enough for me.

"Ready, Flock?" I asked, over the roar of the wind. They all nodded and I titled my wings towards the building. We swooped in, in a triangular formation. Total was still have a rough time flying and glided a little awkwardly towards the building.

"You'd think they'd give a manual with these contraptions" he moaned, glaring at his little wings.

I landed gracefully on the top of the building, waiting for the rest of them to land. Total almost went face first if Angel's careful arms hadn't caught him. I put "Flying 101" on my to-do list for him.

"Okay, there's a window under us, I'll bust through and you follow" I said to them. I held onto the building's edge, feeling my hands burn on the concrete. I swung my feet through the window and the shattering glass fell to the floor. I jumped in and looked around. It was very dark inside the building, the moonlight was the only light available. Quiet thuds followed me and I checked that all of them were inside. Angel placed Total on the ground and Nudge was last to jump in. I turned left in the hall, moving quickly. The building was set out almost like a hospital, large florescent lights above and linoleum white tiles on the floor. I past a few doors with doctors' and presidents' names on them until I found the room I was looking for. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness quickly and I was able to move around more comfortably. The door was white like all the other ones but it was locked. _I.T Lab_ was scrawled on it. I twisted at the handle and tried to push it open with my shoulder.

"Stand back" said Fang. Before he could hurtle his foot at me, I moved out of the way and it smacked the door into two. He went in first and I followed, gingerly. Inside there were several computers on desks, several file cabinets and what seemed a projection set up. My mind moved quickly, figuring out the next step in seconds.

"Nudge, follow me to the computers. Fang, stay watch with Angel and Total. Ig and Gazzy, see if you can watch the movie with the projector" I ordered. I moved quickly to the first computer and turned it on. A little blue window popped up, with a password.

"Nudge" I said.

"On it" she mumbled, placing her hand on the keyboard. She closed her eyes and I could see her brows furrow in the blue light of the screen.

"Try _edmund2892_" she said, her eyes certain. I typed it in quickly and the computer logged me in. We had little time if the building had a silent alarm and those damn scientists will have us soon if we didn't hurry. I could see a little flicker in the corner of my eye and I looked up to see Gazzy watching a movie on the projection screen. I left him to make sense of it and turned back to the computer screen.

I clicked on the little icon that had _File Information_ under it. Another password window popped up.

"Why are people so secretive lately" I muttered sarcastically.

"I hear footsteps" said Iggy, a frazzled look on his face. My head shot up.

"How many?" I asked.

"I don't know, their kind of muffled. About seven" he said. That's when Fang burst through the door, with Angel and Total following.

"We gotta' go, Angel just saw people outside" he said.

"Nudge, hurry" I said, hastily. She placed her hand on the keyboard. She typed something than erased it then typed something again and erased that too.

"I can't, there are too many numbers" she muttered.

"You have to" I groaned.

"They're getting closer!" Iggy hissed through clenched teeth. Nudge closed her eyes again and typed in something else. She pressed enter. The window read and loaded the page. We both breathed out long relieved sighs. My eyes scrolled down the page until something caught them. _N.O 157564089_Experiement Aviation _it said. I double clicked on it and it popped up. I read over it and saw my name, Fang's and Gazzy's on it.

"Nudge, go to Cabinet 3, letter A and look for Aviation!" I said, reading it from the top of the page and pushing her toward the cabinets. She opened it, flipped through a few and pulled out a white folder. She handed it to me and I tucked it under my arm.

"Let's go!" I shouted, running for the door. Gazzy left the movie playing and followed.

"Their gaining!" shouted Iggy. "They must've heard us!"

"Let's split up! Fang, take Nudge and Gazzy downstairs and keep them distracted. I'll take Iggy and Angel up!" I shouted. He nodded and turned around. Total leapt into Angel's arms and now we were running through the halls looking for the broken window. When I found it, I helped Angel and Iggy out until they were in the air. I heard footsteps getting closer and wondered if they were the rest of the Flock's. I saw a few men running towards me and decided that they weren't. I was about to stand and fight until I saw the pistols in their hands. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could, hearing bullets shooting past me. When I got to the top floor, my legs were starting to burn. There was a door leading outside on the roof. I pushed it open and went through. I had the folder under my arm and was ready to run and leap off the side of the building until I heard someone's voice being cleared. I turned around and sitting on the vent of the roof was a dark shadow.

"Hello there, nice night for a fly isn't it?" said a bell-like voice, a girl's voice. The shadow jumped from the vent and moved closer. Now I could see her face and it was surprisingly beautiful.

"Is there a chance of me seeing that little folder of yours?" she said with a smile. I hugged the folder, closer to my body.

"Who are you?" I asked her. My heart was beating hard but I kept my tone light.

"It's a secret" she said, with a cunning smile. She held out her hand in the moonlight. Her skin was pale, her hair almost black and her eyes were a sharp olive green. She watched me intently as I backed away.

"No, no. Don't do that! I might come after you" she said with a wink.

"I doubt that" I said, unfurling my wings. She looked at my wings for a moment, the expression on her face not wavering. Suddenly I felt something hard landing in the middle of my stomach. The air rushed out of me and I collapsed. There was this awful pain burning on my stomach. I looked up at the girl who was still standing where she used to be. She walked over, casually and picked up the folder. She was wearing only black and her dark hair was long.

"How'd you do that?!" I hissed at her.

"It's a secret" she said again. I got to my knees, grabbing onto my stomach when it ached. I looked at her again and that's when I saw the two long shiny black wings jutting from her back. My eyes widened. I couldn't get a question out.

"Seeya' around, Max" she said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

"What was her name?" asked Fang, his eyes and tone were frustrated.

"I don't know" I muttered, it felt like the hundredth time I've said that. We were back at the motel and it was about 3 am in the morning. I had already let Gazzy, Nudge and Angel go to bed while we discussed the Femme Fatale that showed up.

"Why did she want the folder?" he asked.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed.

"Well what do you know?" he hissed back.

"That she has wings, that she can fly and that she has some weird mutation that can hurt us!" I retorted. When the girl had flown of and the flock found me, my t-shirt gaping hole in it and the edges of that hole was seared just where my stomach was hit. This scared us more than ever. It meant that we weren't alone and that someone else is out there, more powerful than us. Fang sighed. Iggy opened his mouth than closed it again. He hasn't said a word since we left and that's very unlike him.

"What's up, Ig?" I asked. He looked up in my direction, his eyes glazing over.

"The one person that's like us and she's trying to kill us" he muttered.

"Technically she didn't try to kill anyone" said Fang. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hello? Gaping hole in shirt!" I said, pointing to my shirt in revelation. Fang gave me one of his looks and went on.

"When you didn't hand over the files she injured you, she hadn't tried to kill you" he said.

"How do you know?" asked Iggy.

"Because, I have feeling she would have succeeded if she was out to kill us" he explained. Iggy's eyes started to shoot around the room like he did when he's nervous. I was expecting a triumphant look on Fang's face but I was surprised when he turned to me with a look of concern.

"What were on the files?"

"They were about us, just us" I said.

"Why would she want files on us?" asked Iggy. Fang shook his head.

"This is getting way weird" he murmured.

"Maybe she's planning on killing us, she's just doing research to see if we're gonna' be hard to kill!" I exclaimed.

"She's not going to kill us" muttered Fang.

"Well sorry, Yoda. I forgot of your all knowing power, oh wait! I just remembered, that's probably 'because you don't have it!" I replied. He gave me a withering look and fell into an armchair. I heard Iggy snicker and I was happy that I could at least be entertaining.

"We should get some sleep; did Gazzy tell you what was on the movie?" I asked Iggy.

"Yeah, it was about some sort of machine that could create DNA from people using its memory of the person"

"That's impossible" I muttered.

"I know, the machine didn't work. The movie was like from the 20th century or something" he said. Iggy got up and walked to the boys' room. Fang followed and I went to check on Nudge and Angel before I went to bed. They seemed sound asleep so I slumped over to the couch. The couch was uncomfortable but it was better than a concrete floor in the subway. I fell asleep easily enough.

When I woke up the smell of bacon filled my nostrils. I opened my eyes, breathing in the wonderful scent. I also heard the sizzling of eggs and the shower running.

"Coffee?" I mumbled, walking into the small kitchen. Iggy forced a hot cup into my hands and I drank appreciatively. Iggy was standing over the stove making breakfast. The boy had a talent, what can say?

I walked into Nudge and Angel's bedroom.

"Wake up, kids. There's a world that needs saving" I said, shaking Nudge's shoulder.

"Five more minutes" she muttered.

"In five minutes, we'd all be dead and wouldn't that make you feel bad?" I asked her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Angel was already by my side to my surprise, she's usually acts like the Exorcist in the morning. Her blond hair was dishevelled and curls hung in her eyes.

"Is that coffee?" she asked me. I handed her the cup and she drank the rest. Total was still rolled up on her bed, snoring softly. I flicked his ear and he growled.

"Can't a man sleep for five minutes?!" he growled.

"Yes, but sadly you are a dog" I said, with a grin. I walked from their room and I could hear the mischievous giggle of a little blond boy.

"Good morning, Gazzy. Put down the bomb, please" I said, not even giving him a glance. I knew he had something in his hands that could put us seven feet in the air though.

"Fine" he muttered, placing a blue cylindrical object on his bed. Fang walked out from the bathroom, his black hair dripping water onto his grey t-shirt.

"Breakfast's ready" said Iggy, turning of the stove. I was always amazed at how he could tell. We ate, talking about the girl that had attacked me. Fang seemed the most interested which ate at me a little.

"What did she look like?" he asked me.

"Can't remember" I muttered.

"Was she pretty?" he asked again.

"I do not know! Why don't you put out a personal add in the paper?" I hissed back at him. He looked at Iggy and Iggy seemed to be on the edge of laughter. I huffed and pushed my scrambled eggs around my plate.

"What will we be doing today?" asked Angel.

"Backtracking" I said without hesitation. "That girl has important files; we need to get them back"

"So we're going after a girl that may be dangerous, for some files?" asked Iggy.

"Not just any files, _the_ files. And she is dangerous, period" I said.

So there we were again, on the roof of one of _Arcanim_'s branches, just where we were last night. It was day and the sun was blistering. We had been standing here for about thirty seconds.

"What now?" asked Nudge.

"We follow in her direction" I said.

"Which way did she go?" asked Iggy.

"South" I said, pointing in the direction.

"And how long was she planning on going south? Let's be serious, we can't find her like this" he muttered.

"Any other ideas?" I asked. The Flock stayed quiet.

"I rest my case" I said, triumphantly.

We flew back to the motel, grabbed our ratty backpacks and filled them with non-perishable food and some warmer clothing.

"Angel, leave some space in yours, just in case Total needs help" I said. She nodded and took out an extra shirt.

By early afternoon, we were in the sky, going south from the _Arcanim_ base. I had no idea where this was taking us, or how we were going to find her but I knew we had to find her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Chapter 3**

We were just under the border of Texas and Mexico when we decided to rest. Nudge had spotted a deep dug-out cave in the middle of a wasteland, which could shield us against the scorching sun. I had my legs stretched out in the sun and the rest of my body in the shade of the cave. I had missed the sun and its warmth was a wonder to me. The rest of the Flock was inside, drinking from half empty water bottles and rubbing their shoulders. It reminded me that we'd have to look for a place to get water soon.

"We'll stay here for ten more minutes and then we have to roll. I want to be out of here before noon" I said to the Flock. I got a few tired nods. Gazzy was teetering on the edge of the darkness in the cave, calling echoes into the night of the cave.

"Hello?!" he shouted into the mouth. His voice came back muffled.

"How deep is it?" asked Iggy.

"It seems to go on forever" murmurs Gazzy with a mischievous smile. I recognized the look in his eyes.

"No, we don't have time for your _Dora the Explorer_ time. Stay here" I said sternly. He sighed and fell onto his bottom.

Five minutes later when I turned to get a water bottle from my backpack him and Iggy was gone.

"I curse him to the deepest part in Hades!" I hissed. Fang smirked.

"Should we go after them?" asked Angel. I looked to Fang and he gave a slight shake, one that only I could tell meant no.

"We'll wait" I said. "God forbid some horrid creature eats them" I muttered sarcastically.

After five minutes of waiting, my skin was crawling. What if some creature did get them? I would never forgive myself. **Maybe you shouldn't have listened to Fang **said the voice. It took me by surprise and I did a quick double take. _Didn't I tell you to get lost?_ I muttered at it. **If its worrying you so much, maybe you should've gone after them, instead of listening to Fang **it repeated, ignoring me. _Yeah, and maybe I should cut my eyes out_ I hissed. _Fang knows what he's doing, I trust him._ **I'm sorry, I hadn't realised that this was Fang's Flock** it retorted. I snorted but when I thought about it, Fang has been acting high and mighty all of the sudden. The feeling that I'm losing my rank wasn't a good one. _No, no! That's not true; you're just trying to make trouble_ I thought. **I'm here to help you, Max. I see what you see, Fang's been taking over. Hasn't he? **It said, the voice not wavering. I shook my head and Fang gave me a worried look.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I shrugged away from him and nodded.

_You should stay out of it. I'm already weird enough with these wings; voices in my head won't help my case _I thought back bitterly. **You know you're special Max. Better than the rest of the Flock. Are you really going to let Fang take your spot?**

Just then a blast of energy surged through my head. Images popped up and flickered away. A map and a road sign with the name _Miami 300 miles _scrawled on it. A burning building and two dark shadows on top of the building. A pool or sea, lots of water. My head felt like it was splitting open from the pressure. I grunted and I could feel steady hands curl around my shoulders. Black feathers popped up. The pressure disappeared instantly and so did the images. I opened my eyes, looking straight into Fang's dark stare. He opened his mouth about to say something but then two voices where thrown at us.

"Guys! Guys! You'd never believe what we found!" shouted the voices.

"Iggy, Gazzy?!" I shouted back. They were okay, thank God. Two figures emerged from the dark. Gazzy had something in his hands.

"Look at these" he said, bringing them over to me. He had a small chip packet in his hands and -to my surprise- two pitch black feathers that gleamed. I held my breath recognising it from the picture in my head. They were so familiar, like a dream.

"Did you find these deeper in the cave?" asked Fang, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah, about twenty metres in" said Iggy. Fang turned to me with a configuring look on his face.

"What does this mean?" asked Nudge, stepping closer.

"It means we're on the right track" I answered, turning the feathers in my hand.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Chapter 4**

We were headed for Miami. Sun, surf and a lot of leathery old people. I was happy to be staying away from the Arctic though, me and the cold never mixed well. I looked to my side at Fang. His quiet composure hadn't fooled me back in the cave, he knew something was wrong and his dark eyes kept searching me once and a while. We hadn't had one of our "moments" since coming back from Africa and I felt a huge fracture splitting up between us. Wasn't this good though? No confusing feelings, no constant awareness of each other. But still, I had this aching need to have him close and that pretty much sucked. And now that feeling of betrayal and unrest hung between us. How could he ask if she was pretty? What am I, chopped liver? Why is he trying to take over? I shook the questions from my head. I needed to focus on Miss Femme Fatale, no matter how annoyed I was, no matter how badly I wanted to force my fist into her face. That shirt was one of my favourites; she won't be getting out of our next confrontation without one of her t-shirts ruined. The picture of the feathers, Miami board and dark shadows were branded in my head. My mind seemed to drift there when it was unoccupied.

"You okay?" I heard the deep voice over the roar of the wind. I looked at Fang, his eyes darker than usual.

"Fine" I said, turning away from him. Could it of been possible that she was there? Watching us on the building from a distance without me even knowing it. A shiver ran up my spine. I looked down at the turning ocean of the Mexican Gulf. We've been to Florida once. The memory wasn't a good one. We had been flying for five hours non-stop. Total was already in Angel's backpack and she was struggling. I pulled my wings up and felt the air get caught in them. I slowed until I was next to Angel.

"Give me the backpack" I said, reaching for it. She shrugged it off and handed it to me. I shrugged mine off and handed it to her. When we were all strapped in, I zipped back in front. I could feel Total rustle inside the bag and his wet nose graze my neck.

"How long until we get there?" he asked.

"Not long, maybe thirty minutes at most" I said.

I was right, by 8 thirty we were in Miami, looking down at the lights of the city. The air had cooled down but instead of the dry air, it was moist and heavy.

I pointed down and we dived. There was a shaded bit without any bright lights. A park, it seemed. I landed smoothly past a few branches until I fell on one that could support my weight. The others were right behind me.

"Will we be making camp here for the night?" asked Nudge.

"I don't think we'll have to" murmured Fang. I turned to him, puzzled. My eyes widened as I saw what he was holding.

"She's here" he said, dropping the black feather. Nudge picked up the feather and held it next to Fang's wings.

"Compared to this feather, you're wings are brown" she said, looking at the feather with envy. Fang shrugged and looked at me.

"What now?" he asked. Finally, a chance to show I was the leader of this group, not him. And at that time, nothing came to mind. I had no plan, this was the final moment and I had nothing, nada, zilch. I tried to guess of something.

"Search the park" I said, looking around.

"Oh, that won't be necessary" said a cool, velvet voice. A shiver ran up my back. I turned slowly to look at her. Tall and cool, she stood straight on a branch, her pitch black wings glistening. _Like a crow_ I thought. Her green eyes were intelligent, cunning and also a little greedy. She held something white in her hands, the folder. She threw it to to me and smiled.

"It's yours now, didn't have much in it anyway" she said.

"Who are you?" I asked my voice shaky. The Flock was still, only their feathers moved from the breeze.

"One of you, Max" she said, her voice sincere. I half frowned, half smirked.

"That's what they all say" I smirked.

"But it's true, if you don't believe me, look here" she said. She pulled away her black sleeve, revealing a slight white puckered line just above her wrist. She mouthed the word _Microchip _with a playful smile. I could feel my mouth fall open and the look of disbelief was clear on all of our faces, even Fang's.

"I don't believe you" I murmured again, trying to convince myself more than her. Her head tilted to the side.

"You can trust me, I promise. I made a trail so you could follow me here. I'm sick of living in this world alone, thinking I was alone. Imagine my surprise when I saw a group of winged kids fly over a football stadium on T.V" she explained with a smile. Fang and I looked at each other then, I made it clear on my face what I thought, _not to be trusted. _But in his dark eyes I saw what I didn't want to see, _one of us_, they shouted_._


End file.
